Judicial Races Are No Place For Politics Or Partisanship

The Alabama Legislature hasn’t seen fit to take party labels out of judicial races in Alabama. In fact, all efforts have failed. I believe the legislators should at least make races for our appellate courts non-partisan. Serving as an appellate judge should not come with a party label. There should be no Democrats or Republicans on the Alabama Supreme Court or on any of the other appellate courts – just qualified judges – and I believe most Alabamians agree with that premise. In fact, all polls reflect that Alabamians don’t like partisan races for judges.

There should be only men and women serving as judges who are dedicated to dispensing fair and impartial justice to the people of Alabama with absolutely no requirement for party affiliation. The perception of bias that comes attached to a party label has no place in our judicial system. Most folks expect justice to be applied equally in weighing all issues that come before any court. That’s why the lady holding the scales of justice is blindfolded.

Men and women serving on our state’s appellate courts should never be perceived as leaning one way or the other, particularly when politics often sticks its ugly head into judicial matters and legal arguments. For years a number of Alabama newspapers have been advocates of stripping party titles from all judicial races. The following editorial appeared in the Opelika-Auburn News recently.

Serving as a judge should not come with a party label, period. There should be no Democrats on the bench. There should be no Republicans on the bench. There should be only men and women dedicated to offering justice to the communities they serve with absolutely no party affiliation or perception of leniency. The scales of justice are supposed to be equal.

That said, judges should not obviously lean to one side or the other of the political spectrum. Republican lawmakers often lean one way on issues. Democratic lawmakers often lean the other way on issues. Men and women holding the gavel should never be perceived as leaning one way or the other, particularly when politics often makes its way into judiciary matters and legal arguments. This newspaper has been an advocate of stripping party titles from judicial races, will continue to be such, and urge lawmakers in Montgomery to continue pressing the issue.

Wednesday, the Alabama House Constitution and Elections Committee voted 7-2 to defeat a bill made by Rep. Jeff McLaughlin, D-Guntersville, which called for state Supreme Court justices and judges from the Court of Criminal Appeals and Court of Civil Appeals to be elected in a non-partisan fashion. Earlier this year, a bill calling for circuit and district court judges to be elected in non-partisan elections was also defeated. Lee County is in the midst of an election season with a large field of judicial candidates in circuit and district courts. Some are running as Democrats. The majority of the candidates are running as Republicans.

Political preference should not be the determining factor for a registered voter when it comes to the court system. Men or women seeking the bench should be elected based on their record and abilities, not because they wear an elephant or donkey lapel pin. For other seats on the ballot, fine, be Democrats or Republicans. But in what is expected to be the impartial makeup of Alabama’s court system, let’s play it straight down the middle and be independent on the ballot in the future.

Opelika-Auburn News

April 10, 2010

In the recently completed regular session, the Alabama Legislature took no action to make judicial races non-partisan. Hopefully, one of these days the legislators will pay attention to how the people of Alabama feel about this issue.